210 THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS FROM SEEDS 



watering become necessary, take care to avoid washing the seeds 

 out. If the pans or pots are stood for an hour in a vessel con- 

 taining several inches depth of water, they will absorb sufficient, 

 and there will be no occasion to pour water on the surface. A 

 gentle heat is to be preferred, as a too rapid germination of the 

 seed tends to the production of weak plants. As soon as the young 

 plants appear, remove the glasses and place the seed-pans in the fullest 

 light, where air can be given without danger to them. A dry east 

 wind blowing fiercely over tfyem will prove a blast of death. If they 

 have no air at all, they will be puny, rickety things, scarcely worth 

 planting out. Choice varieties should be carefully pricked out into 

 pans and pots as soon as large enough ; this will promote a fine, 

 stocky growth, and a splendid development of flowers. Take care not 

 to plant out until the weather is favourable, for any great check will 

 undo all your work, and make starvelings of your nurslings. If you 

 cannot command heat for half-hardy annuals, sow in the first week in 

 April, put the pans in a frame facing south, and the seeds will soon 

 grow and do well. If that is too much trouble, sow in the open 

 border early in May, making the border rich and friable, that they 

 may have a good chance from the first. 



TENDER ANNUALS 



THESE require the same general treatment as advised for half-hardy 

 annuals. But it is desirable to sow earlier, and in a stronger heat 

 than is necessary for annuals that are to be planted out. It is also 

 requisite to be in good time in pricking out the young plants, for 

 if they get much drawn they cannot make robust pot plants. A light, 

 rich, perfectly sweet soil, containing a fair proportion of sharp sand, 

 will alone insure plants worth having. It is also important to get 

 them into separate small pots as soon as possible, and to shift them 

 on to larger and larger pots, until they have sufficient pot room for 

 flowering, after which shift no more. As soon as these pots are 

 filled with roots, give very weak manure-water constantly until the 

 plants are in flower, and then discontinue it, using instead pure soft 

 water only. Many of the commonest annuals are worthy of careful 

 culture for flowering early in the greenhouse, but we have in view in 

 this paragraph such fine subjects as Camellia-flowered Balsam, Globe 

 Amaranth, Ipomcea, Thunbergia, &c. 



